Steve Burgess tells Reg Little about Oxford's attitude to science and a missed opportunity

 

Steve Burgess must be finding it difficult to put Oxford Castle Mound out of his mind. It sits just a few yards from the window of the office into which he recently moved, as the man charged with delivering to Oxford a £35m Science Discovery and Innovation Centre.

If he needed reminding, the mound’s presence such a short distance from his desk must make all too clear this historic monument’s important place in central Oxford — and to his own ambitious scheme for the city.

From the moment that Science Oxford selected Macclesfield House as the site where it wanted to build a centre to celebrate science in Oxford, to be known as the Magnet, it was clear that the mound would present a major challenge to architects, faced with building their scheme around it.

Mr Burgess arrived to take charge of the project, as the chief executive of the Oxford Trust, the charity behind Science Oxford, at the beginning of October.

And he could hardly have timed his arrival from Cheltenham at a more delicate moment for a scheme with major implications for tourism, jobs, heritage and new businesses.

In the face of objections from Oxford Heritage, Oxford Preservation Trust and others upset that the centre would hide the famous mound from view, Science Oxford has effectively ripped up its original, costly plans.

Mr Burgess is now pinning his hopes on revised plans drawn up by Foster and Partners reducing the height of new buildings — with the striking planetarium no longer sitting on the top like a cut diamond glowing in different colours, but relegated to a basement setting.

Looking out of his window, Mr Burgess sadly gestured towards the empty wine bottles and beer cans strewn across the side of the mound facing his office.

Others currently take a less sensitive approach to the site and the irony is not lost on the new chief executive.

He joins Science Oxford after serving as development director at Cheltenham Festivals. This put him in charge of not only Cheltenham’s prestigious annual science festival, but also the town’s music, jazz and literary festivals.

During his four years at Cheltenham, visitors to the June science festival grew from 18,000 to 50,000, and it attracted speakers of the calibre of Brian Cox, Robert Winston, Alice Roberts and Richard Dawkins — and it now claims to be Europe’s biggest.

“It attracts a very mixed audience with a strong schools programme. It certainly does not dumb down science,” said Mr Burgess.

Before Cheltenham he spent 24 years with Merck, the international chemical company, holding senior positions in research and development.

The combination of research and commercial experience, and a passion for public involvement in science, made him a strong candidate for the Magnet job.

For the project seeks to create not just a new visitor centre and educational facility but a new city centre home for up to 50 small innovative businesses.

Oxford, he believes, has fallen behind other university cities in promoting itself as a centre of scientific excellence, with the Magnet expected to go a long way towards putting things right.

“Looking at Oxford in terms of science communication, it is under-represented on the national stage. It does not have a joined-up approach to science communication and public engagement in general. At Cambridge, and in London there is much more engagement with the public.”

Oxford’s science festival, for example, is not in the same league as others in the UK, he says.

For him there persists a false perception that Oxford is about arts and humanities, the place where prime ministers are produced, albeit with a strong science base.

Not only, he believes, is the importance of science and engineering at Oxford University underplayed, but so is the work at Harwell and across the county.

He said: “There is a need to see the bigger picture. Oxford Brookes is doing some fantastic work in engineering and you have to look at the wider region and not just the science and research taking place within the ring road.”

The Oxford Trust was created in 1985 by Sir Martin and Lady Audrey Wood, the founders of Oxford Instruments, with the express purpose of encouraging the study and application of science. For years it operated a visitor centre in St Clements. But when the Macclesfield House site became available, the opportunity was seen to create something on an altogether different scale.

The unloved 1960s building, Macclesfield House, which formerly housed the county educational department would be demolished. More controversially, the 100-year-old Register Office, the work of local architect W.A Daft, on the corner of Tidmarsh Lane and New Road, would also go.

The charity’s determination to create a new Oxford landmark next to the Oxford Castle site, was underlined with the appointment of Foster and Partners, whose work includes the German Reichstag and Beijing Airport.

Science Oxford was faced with two major challenges. It is an unusual site. It is triangular shaped and there is limited space. At the same time, the Magnet would have to be self-sufficient.

Mr Burgess, 55, said: “There is no point in us building something that is not sustainable. We are a charity, so it will have to pay its way. The innovation centre has to be of sufficient size to pay for the visitor centre. We have an option to buy the Register Office but there would be no point in taking it up unless we are able to build on it.”

The original plan tried to mass too much on the site, in the view of some conservationists, while the height of the main building would block out the mound, the main surviving part of the Norman castle built by Robert D'Oilly in the 1070s.

It was originally crowned by a timber tower, with the mound raised in height during the 13th century, when the stone tower was built overlooking the medieval city.

Mr Burgess said the height of buildings in the new design had been substantially reduced, with none to be taller than the existing Macclesfield House. With evident sadness, he recognised that it would mean the Magnet losing its “wow factor”, with reductions in space for educational use.

But this would not be enough for Peter Howell, secretary of the Victorian Group of the Oxfordshire Architectural and Historical Society, who said a scheme that still proposed the demolition of the Register Office remained unacceptable.

“If this science centre needs to be built, it must be on a different site,” he said.

Mr Burgess, said he doubted that the Magnet could go ahead without the Register Office site being redeveloped. “It just wouldn’t make any sense,” he warned, Even if there is little hope of harmony across the city, the joining together of a new beacon of science with perhaps Oxford’s most historic site would certainly be an unforgettable way for the Register Office to bow out.